editorNPR Digital Services RSS Generator 0.94Peggy Lowe joined Harvest Public Media in 2011, returning to the Midwest after 22 years as a journalist in Denver and Southern California. Most recently she was at The Orange County Register, where she was a multimedia producer and writer. In Denver she worked for The Associated Press, The Denver Post and the late, great Rocky Mountain News. She was on the Denver Post team that won the Pulitzer Prize for breaking news coverage of Columbine. Peggy was a Knight-Wallace Fellow at the University of Michigan in 2008-09. She is from O'Neill, the Irish Capital of Nebraska, and now lives in Kansas City. Based at KCUR, Peggy is the analyst for The Harvest Network and often reports for Harvest Public Media.NPR Digital Services RSS Generator 0.94Peggy LoweTue, 06 Mar 2018 07:50:16 +0000Peggy Lowehttp://kmuw.org
Peggy LoweA congressional watchdog agency called on the federal government this week to better protect meatpacking workers, who are often exposed to dangerous chemicals, not allowed bathroom breaks and refused medical treatment.Report: Government Should Better Protect Meatpacking Workershttp://kmuw.org/post/report-government-should-better-protect-meatpacking-workers
92292 as http://kmuw.orgFri, 08 Dec 2017 18:57:42 +0000Report: Government Should Better Protect Meatpacking WorkersPeggy LoweFor the first time in its annual survey of rural America, the U.S. Department of Agriculture found that mortality rates of working-age adults are on the rise because of opioid and heroin overdoses. Continuing longtime trends, rural areas are still seeing declining populations, the rebound from the Great Recession is slow and poverty remains a persistent problem, according to the USDA’s “ Rural America at a Glance ,” released Thursday. Mortality rates from 2010-2016 increased for all adults in rural areas between the ages of 20 and 54, USDA geographer John Cromartie said. In urban areas, the increase in the death rate was limited to young adults, ages 20 and 29. “This is an unexpected and in many ways unprecedented turnaround in mortality rates,” Cromartie says. “There are several interrelated factors that have contributed to this trend, including the rise in prescription medication abuse, especially opioids, and the more recent related rise in heroin overdose deaths.” Heart disease,Opioid, Heroin Overdoses Contributing to Rural Population Decline, USDA Sayshttp://kmuw.org/post/opioid-heroin-overdoses-contributing-rural-population-decline-usda-says
91418 as http://kmuw.orgMon, 20 Nov 2017 11:00:00 +0000Opioid, Heroin Overdoses Contributing to Rural Population Decline, USDA SaysPeggy LoweOn a feedlot in far southwest Kansas, two cowboys on horseback move cattle on the high dusty plains, spread out like dozens of football fields stitched together with miles of fences. Their “Buenos dias! Buenos dias!” greetings mix with moos on a hot summer morning. They’re two of the 400 employees who work on the feedlot, which is one of the largest in the U.S. in a state that ranks third in meat production.Labor-Starved Ag Businesses Want To Keep Immigrant Workers In US Legallyhttp://kmuw.org/post/labor-starved-ag-businesses-want-keep-immigrant-workers-us-legally
91037 as http://kmuw.orgMon, 13 Nov 2017 11:00:00 +0000Labor-Starved Ag Businesses Want To Keep Immigrant Workers In US LegallyPeggy LoweBayer AG announced the sale of a large part of its agribusiness on Friday. The deal will move the company closer to yet another big deal. Bayer AG says it sold part of its crop science division to BASF for $7 billion. The sale includes Bayer’s field crop seed and pesticide businesses. Bayer says the move is “an active approach” to help it win regulatory approval for its proposed buyout of Monsanto. That $66 billion deal will merge two of the world’s largest agribusinesses. Some in the industry are concerned there will be less competition in the chemical and seed businesses, meaning higher costs for farmers.Bayer Announces $7 Billion Deal, Part Of Move To Acquire Monsantohttp://kmuw.org/post/bayer-announces-7-billion-deal-part-move-acquire-monsanto
89967 as http://kmuw.orgTue, 17 Oct 2017 15:41:19 +0000Bayer Announces $7 Billion Deal, Part Of Move To Acquire MonsantoPeggy LoweA Tyson chicken processing plant in southwest Missouri was fined $2.5 million on Wednesday in a pollution case. Dating back to 2011, the Environmental Protection Agency has found violations at Tyson’s Monett plant and deemed it a “significant non-complier” in cleaning up the problems. In the latest case, the company pleaded guilty in federal court to discharging an animal feed ingredient that killed more than 100,000 fish in a nearby stream. In 2015, Tyson paid the state a half-million dollars for that same fish kill. Tyson issued a statement saying it was “an unfortunate mistake” that it deeply regretted. The company also agreed to corrective action.Tyson Pleads Guilty To Environmental Violations, Pays $2.5 Million In Fines And Restitutionhttp://kmuw.org/post/tyson-pleads-guilty-environmental-violations-pays-25-million-fines-and-restitution
89176 as http://kmuw.orgThu, 28 Sep 2017 22:20:51 +0000Tyson Pleads Guilty To Environmental Violations, Pays $2.5 Million In Fines And RestitutionPeggy LoweOf all the expensive machinery Tom Giessel worked during the 2017 wheat harvest, his favorite sits in the office of his home. It’s a microfilm machine, the kind found in a high school library. Giessel uses it for his work as the historian of the National Farmers Union, the nation’s second-largest farm group. It’s the best investment he ever made, he says, and it sits in his office where faded bound books of old newspapers are stacked ceiling high and row after row of square white film boxes are packed into a cabinet. Today’s history lesson: one of the worst farm depressions to ever hit the U.S., which struck during the 1980s. “I remember in the early ‘80s what happened and how it happened,” Giessel says. “I went back, I’ve done some research, and tried to do some parallels and comparisons.” In the 1980s, thousands of farmers lost their land, ag banks failed and Main Street businesses in farm country went belly-up. Today, Giessel worries that history is repeating itself. Farmers faceFarm Economy Downturn Prompts Fears Of A ‘Crisis’http://kmuw.org/post/farm-economy-downturn-prompts-fears-crisis
86330 as http://kmuw.orgTue, 25 Jul 2017 10:00:00 +0000Farm Economy Downturn Prompts Fears Of A ‘Crisis’Peggy LoweSonny Perdue, the former governor of Georgia, was sworn in as U.S. Secretary of Agriculture at the end of April. Harvest Public Media’s Peggy Lowe sat down with Perdue on his fourth day on the job at the American Royal complex in Kansas City, Missouri. She asked him about the Trump administration’s priorities for our food system, government nutrition programs, immigration policy and the future of the Agriculture Department. This interview has been edited for length and clarity. Peggy Lowe: You’ve said you would be interested in tying SNAP (the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program), food stamps, to a work program for recipients. Is that true? Sonny Perdue: As a former governor, I'm kind of a Federalist when we allow states to make a lot of those decisions. But if you look back at the original Supplemental Nutrition Program it had a work component to it, it was a temporary type of thing. So it really goes back to the statute. Those were relieved during the Obama administration. ButUSDA Secretary Talks Climate Change, Immigrationhttp://kmuw.org/post/usda-secretary-talks-climate-change-immigration
83317 as http://kmuw.orgTue, 16 May 2017 10:00:00 +0000USDA Secretary Talks Climate Change, ImmigrationPeggy LoweU.S. Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue on Friday said President Trump may be open to creating a way for some undocumented immigrant workers to stay in the U.S. and Perdue is already working on a “blueprint” of policy guidelines to offer the president. Refusing to call it a pathway to citizenship, Perdue says he would like to find a solution that would allow workers in the ag industry to remain in the U.S. legally. That’s despite Trump’s campaign promises to step up deportations of undocumented immigrants. Trump met with farmers this week and heard about the challenges they face keeping laborers for dairies or field work, Perdue says. “He understands that there are long-term immigrants, sometimes undocumented immigrant laborers, out here on the farms, many of them that are doing a great job, contributing to the economy of the United States,” Perdue says. “That is not his focus nor will that be my focus.” Perdue says he’s hired a labor lawyer to help design the program that can helpAg Secretary Says Trump Open to Allowing Immigrant Farm Workers To Stay In U.S.http://kmuw.org/post/ag-secretary-says-trump-open-allowing-immigrant-farm-workers-stay-us
82662 as http://kmuw.orgMon, 01 May 2017 21:04:39 +0000Ag Secretary Says Trump Open to Allowing Immigrant Farm Workers To Stay In U.S.Peggy LoweNew U.S. Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue on Thursday explained President Donald Trump’s turn-around on the North American Free Trade Agreement as just part of the negotiations in his deal making. Under heavy fire from farmers, farm groups and others who were critical of Trump’s promise to terminate NAFTA, on Thursday the president announced that after talking to the governments of Canada and Mexico, he plans instead to renegotiate the trade agreement. Perdue, in Kansas City on his first stop outside Washington since his swearing-in this week, says Trump is a deal-maker, much as Perdue was a grain trader in a previous job. “So saying something was contemplated is not necessarily saying something was done or was going to be done,” Perdue says. "I think the ultimate outcome is what we’re interested in.” NAFTA is generally popular with farmers, as Canada and Mexico are respectively the No. 1 and 3 markets for farm exports, worth billions of dollars. Perdue says trade deals like NAFTA,Ag Secretary Says Trump’s Turn On NAFTA Was Deal-Makinghttp://kmuw.org/post/ag-secretary-says-trump-s-turn-nafta-was-deal-making
82643 as http://kmuw.orgMon, 01 May 2017 16:22:06 +0000Ag Secretary Says Trump’s Turn On NAFTA Was Deal-MakingPeggy LowePushed by worker advocates and growing consumer awareness, Tyson Foods on Wednesday promised better conditions for workers at its meat processing plants. Tyson, in a rare move in an industry heavily criticized for lack of worker safeguards, announced it would provide regularly scheduled bathroom breaks, give more attention to line speeds in the plants, offer training on workers’ rights and establish safety councils that include employees. The initiatives are an expansion of a workplace safety pilot program begun in 2015 and social compliance audits initiated in 2012, says Gary Mickelson, a Tyson spokesman. They are also part of new CEO Tom Hayes ’ deeper focus on sustainability, Mickelson says. The announcement was made in conjunction with Oxfam America, an anti-poverty group that had long pushed for such concessions, and the United Food and Commercial Workers International Union, the primary union for 70,000 U.S. poultry workers. A Harvest Public Media investigation found that theTyson Announces Better Conditions And Safety For Meat Workershttp://kmuw.org/post/tyson-announces-better-conditions-and-safety-meat-workers-0
82463 as http://kmuw.orgWed, 26 Apr 2017 22:13:12 +0000Tyson Announces Better Conditions And Safety For Meat WorkersOn Tuesday, the Olathe bar shooting survivor being hailed as a hero joined the chorus of people calling on President Trump to denounce the targeting of two men because of their race. Ian Grillot, 24, who tried to stop a gunman when he opened fire at Austins Bar & Grill last Wednesday, says he believes the shooter singled out the two Indian victims because of their ethnicity and hopes President Trump will address the incident. “It would be nice for [Trump] to give some closure because I know people all around the world are waiting for something,” Grillot says. “He made statements on the Oscars and this, that and the other, but not [the shooting]. That took lives.” Later Tuesday, the White House did condemn the shootings, telling reporters that the incident appears to be "an act of racially motivated hatred." "I want to reiterate, the president condemns these or any other racially or religiously motivated attacks in the strongest terms," Sarah Sanders, a Trump spokeswoman, says. Survivor Calls On Trump To Denounce Racial Shooting At Olathe Barhttp://kmuw.org/post/survivor-calls-trump-denounce-racial-shooting-olathe-bar
79971 as http://kmuw.orgTue, 28 Feb 2017 23:29:59 +0000Survivor Calls On Trump To Denounce Racial Shooting At Olathe BarPeggy LoweRandall Killian thought he was investing in his new retirement property in Colorado when he received a mail-in ballot in 2012 asking if he would like to legalize marijuana in that state. “When I saw that on the ballot, it's like, ‘Oh, wow, that’s something I’ll never get a chance to vote for again.' So bam! I vote on it,” Killian says. “Voted in Ellis County [Kansas], just like I’d done for 25 years.”Kansans Caught In Crosscheck System Singled Out For Kobach’s Voter Fraud Campaignhttp://kmuw.org/post/kansans-caught-crosscheck-system-singled-out-kobach-s-voter-fraud-campaign
79011 as http://kmuw.orgWed, 08 Feb 2017 11:00:00 +0000Kansans Caught In Crosscheck System Singled Out For Kobach’s Voter Fraud CampaignKansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach filed a ninth case of reported voter fraud this week, criminally charging a man who allegedly voted illegally in Kansas and Texas. A criminal complaint filed in Shawnee County District Court charges Preston G. Christensen with three misdemeanor counts of improper voting between Oct. 19, 2012, and Nov. 6, 2012, in Shawnee County, Kansas. Little is known about Christensen, as Kobach’s filing doesn’t offer any personal details about the voter. Efforts to find Christensen in Kansas and Texas were unsuccessful. Rep. John Carmichael, a Wichita Democrat, reacted sarcastically Friday to the new filing against the voter. “The scoundrel,” Carmichael said with a laugh. “Oh, my!” Carmichael, who has filed a bill that would strip Kobach of his prosecutorial powers, said he knows of no other professional prosecutor in Kansas who uses so many resources to go after just a handful of misdemeanor cases. This week Kobach told a legislative committee that he has aKobach Files Ninth Case Of Alleged Voter Fraudhttp://kmuw.org/post/kobach-files-ninth-case-alleged-voter-fraud
78275 as http://kmuw.orgFri, 20 Jan 2017 20:24:09 +0000Kobach Files Ninth Case Of Alleged Voter FraudPeggy LoweKansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach continues with his prosecution of alleged voter fraud. Peggy Lowe with the Kansas News Service reports that he’s expected to file a ninth case today. A spokeswoman from Kobach’s office says the new voter fraud case is being filed in Shawnee County in Topeka. Since Kobach won his prosecutorial authority from the state legislature in July 2015, he’s filed eight criminal cases and successfully prosecuted six. The seventh was dropped. The eighth case is set to go to trial next month. All six of the voters convicted so far are mostly older, white Republican men and they have pleaded guilty to misdemeanors. Kobach is the only secretary of state in the country to have such powers. Peggy Lowe is a reporter for KCUR, a partner in the Kansas News Service.Kobach To File Ninth Case Of Alleged Voter Fraudhttp://kmuw.org/post/kobach-file-ninth-case-alleged-voter-fraud
78158 as http://kmuw.orgWed, 18 Jan 2017 17:35:16 +0000Kobach To File Ninth Case Of Alleged Voter FraudFederal authorities have launched an investigation into the alleged embezzlement of $2.6 million from an Oklahoma nonprofit board that promotes the beef industry. An investigation by Harvest Public Media and StateImpact Oklahoma shows the money came from a mandatory government program funded by farmers and ranchers. The Oklahoma Beef Council is part of a national group funded by a mandatory one-dollar per-head checkoff fee paid each time farmers and ranchers sell an animal. The council kept the alleged embezzlement under wraps until an inquiry made by Harvest and StateImpact. While criminal charges have not been filed, the council has filed a lawsuit to recover money from its former accounting and compliance manager. The national beef board takes in about $80 million a year with little federal oversight, which has angered some farmers and ranchers like Mike Callicrate. He says news of the embezzlement didn’t surprise him because of the beef board’s “veil of secrecy.” "It just adds to$2.6 Million Paid By Farmers And Ranchers Allegedly Embezzled From Beef Councilhttp://kmuw.org/post/26-million-paid-farmers-and-ranchers-allegedly-embezzled-beef-council
77679 as http://kmuw.orgMon, 09 Jan 2017 11:00:00 +0000$2.6 Million Paid By Farmers And Ranchers Allegedly Embezzled From Beef CouncilKansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach was in New York on Thursday for another meeting with President-elect Donald Trump. After his highly-publicized first meeting with Trump in New Jersey on Nov. 20, Republican Party officials in Kansas are speculating this second round is more than a suggestion that Kobach will land a job in the new administration. “I’ve spoken with a couple of people close to the transition team,” says Clay Barker, Kansas GOP executive director. “Speculation is he’s being considered for a position in either the Department of Homeland Security or the Office of the Attorney General.” Kobach’s office has not returned numerous calls for comment. In his first get-together with Trump, Kobach was famously photographed holding a memo showing his plans for DHS in the first year of the administration. The ideas included a total ban on Syrian refugees to the U.S., reintroducing a Bush-era program that required immigrants to be tracked, and questioning “high-risk aliens” about Kansas Secretary Of State Kris Kobach Meets With Trump Againhttp://kmuw.org/post/kansas-secretary-state-kris-kobach-meets-trump-again
76847 as http://kmuw.orgThu, 15 Dec 2016 23:13:19 +0000Kansas Secretary Of State Kris Kobach Meets With Trump AgainPeggy LoweNow that Donald Trump is elected, he must go on a hiring spree for his cabinet. Harvest Public Media’s Peggy Lowe reports that farm country is wondering just who the Secretary of Agriculture will be. Donn Teske is a Kansas farmer and vice president of the National Farmers Union. He says the joke in farm country before the election went something like this: Who knows who Donald Trump would put in as Ag Secretary? It might even be Hank Kimball. Don’t know him? He played a befuddled county agent in the popular 1970’s sitcom "Green Acres," the show about a rich New York couple moving to the country. Funny, Teske says, but ag leaders can only speculate on who the next secretary might be. “Really we don’t know anything," he says. "They’re as puzzled in our office in D.C. as I am out here in the country. We don’t have a clue.” Names being talked about include a number of Midwestern governors and former governors, including Sam Brownback of Kansas, Terry Branstad of Iowa, Dave Heineman ofFarm Country Speculates On New Ag Secretaryhttp://kmuw.org/post/farm-country-speculates-new-ag-secretary
75459 as http://kmuw.orgFri, 11 Nov 2016 20:04:12 +0000Farm Country Speculates On New Ag SecretaryPeggy LoweWhen Don Stull first heard the news that the FBI had foiled a domestic terrorism plot in Garden City, Kansas, aimed at the city’s Somalis, he thought: oh, no. “It was so unlike the Garden City that I know,” he says. Stull, a retired University of Kansas anthropology professor, has been studying Garden City for 30 years. On Friday, the FBI announced that it had arrested three men for planning to blow up truck bombs around an apartment where the city’s Somalis live, promising a “bloodbath” in a building that also contains a mosque. “Garden City is, I believe, a welcoming community that has done it’s very best to accommodate what has been a series of immigrants coming over, people coming to work in the beef packing plants,” he says. That’s true – I’ve written about this unlikely progressive town in far western Kansas for Harvest Public Media and NPR. Many other meatpacking towns did not respond to their new citizens the way Garden City did – an example being Noel, Missouri , alsoTerrorist Bomb Plot Foiled In Rural Town Known As Cultural Crossroadshttp://kmuw.org/post/terrorist-bomb-plot-foiled-rural-town-known-cultural-crossroads
74344 as http://kmuw.orgMon, 17 Oct 2016 16:55:45 +0000Terrorist Bomb Plot Foiled In Rural Town Known As Cultural CrossroadsPeggy LoweThe U.S. Department of Agriculture has ruled that the American Egg Board acted inappropriately when it carried out a two-year media campaign against Hampton Creek, the maker of an egg-free mayonnaise. In a controversy lightly labeled “mayo-gate,” the USDA also concluded in a memo posted Thursday that AEB officials and former CEO Joanne Ivy tried to cover up their conduct by deleting emails. In one of those emails, officials wondered if they could put out a “hit” on Hampton Creek CEO Josh Tetrick – which the board later said was a joke. After the campaign came to light last year, Tetrick called for a congressional investigation into the board’s behavior, saying it went “ way beyond its mandate .” The American Egg Board, much like the 22 other commodity programs organized under the USDA, charges producers a sum that is used for research and promotion. Among its commercials was the well-known “incredible edible egg” slogan. The USDA’s Agricultural Marketing Service initiated the review ofUSDA: Egg Board Campaign Against Mayo Company ‘Inappropriate’http://kmuw.org/post/usda-egg-board-campaign-against-mayo-company-inappropriate
74126 as http://kmuw.orgTue, 11 Oct 2016 22:15:03 +0000USDA: Egg Board Campaign Against Mayo Company ‘Inappropriate’Peggy LoweAgriculture is often blamed for the pollution in Midwestern rivers and streams. But there are other culprits for our dirty waters. Today, in the fourth installation of our series “Watching Our Water,” Harvest Public Media’s Peggy Lowe looks at how cities respond to that pollution – and create some of it, too.Cities Cope With Polluted Ag Runoff, Create Their Own Pollution, Toohttp://kmuw.org/post/cities-cope-polluted-ag-runoff-create-their-own-pollution-too
73380 as http://kmuw.orgThu, 22 Sep 2016 10:00:00 +0000Cities Cope With Polluted Ag Runoff, Create Their Own Pollution, Too